A sprawling estate in southern Connecticut with an apple orchard comes with a splash of Hollywood history and was once home to the CEO of a longtime Fortune 500 company.
The mansion at 87 N. Wilton Road in New Canaan is technically a house, but after walking around the property — known locally as Orchard Ridge — potential buyers will get a sense of something more, according to the agent.
"When you see it, it's like you've entered a getaway destination," listing broker Hannelore Kaplan of William Raveis Real Estate said in an interview. "It's almost like you're on a vacation at home."
At $4.9 million, the price is about the norm for New Canaan, considered a suburb of New York City. Homes in New Canaan tend to average $1.8 million but can be as high as $15 million. Homes at the apex of the price range come with luxury amenities such as pools, tennis courts and vast outdoor seating areas on landscaped grounds.
Orchard Ridge is a 6.6-acre property featuring six bedrooms, seven bathrooms and seven fireplaces. The current owners have lived there for 20-plus years and during that time, they added more windows, expanded the kitchen, and redesigned the bathrooms with white marble, Kaplan said. The renovations have helped give Orchard Ridge "a very Ralph Lauren" and "white Connecticut colonial" feel, Kaplan said.
Kaplan said she's excited to sell this property because it has a classic New England feel to it that buyers can see immediately.
"When they walk the property, they see the abundance of recreation facilities," Kaplan said, noting that the property also has a tennis court, gym, a pool, a pool house and a detached guest cottage. "They mostly notice the elegance of the house and the beautiful flow of the kitchen and family room."
Hollywood producers used Orchard Ridge as one of many filming locations to shoot the 2004 film "The Stepford Wives." During that time, the current owners rented the home to country music icons Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. The couple lived at Orchard Ridge for a year during filming, while the home's owners relocated to their other property in Jackson, Wyoming.
The current owners have decided to sell so they can live full-time in Wyoming, Kaplan said.
But a movie shoot isn't the only facet of the home's unique history. Orchard Ridge was also home to Jack Welch, the youngest CEO of General Electric, who led the company from 1981 to 2001. The property was also home to the family of local philanthropist Jim Dunning, whose name dons a local high school football stadium.
The ideal owner of Orchard Ridge is someone looking for a home that offers privacy along with unique amenities, Kaplan said.
"It could be a great weekend home or it could be a multigenerational," she said. "It's self-contained, so you can have your parents live with you; you can have your older child live with you. Everyone would have their privacy in that house."
